Monday, November 15, 2010

Strong girls who said NO TO FGM in Kenya Garissa district. courtsey of NTV and Mashua Against FGM by Siasa bora

Early marriage and female genital mutilation has been party and parcel of the Somali community in Kenya. But one group of girls has defied this old time tradition and found a place to call home.
This is permanent rescue girls don't need to go back:).This is what am talking about<3.
Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless International

Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocacy
The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.
And the Chairperson of a worldwide campaign against FGM.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

An atrocious doctor Dix Poppas and his crew at Cornell performing FGM in USA and then sexually molesting the children:((.

I never thought I will bring this up again but this doctor is getting publicity he doesn't deserve!!!!!
He should be in jail !!!!!
People are horrified by the disgusting mutilations of girls in foreign lands and it is entirely justifiable. Wee ones have their future lady parts mutilated, burned, and sutured due to local customs or parental pursuit of "normalcy". It is not a part of any specific religion, it is locational, with little ladies tortured to fit unrealistic norms and to stunt their sexuality. Female Genital Mutilation is a hot button issue for sure, but it seems like something confined to foreign lands. But it is not. It is here in North America under the guise of medical research and profit.

Dr. Dix Poppas and his crew at Cornell University have been operating on girls between 3 and 6 months of age who they deem to have "oversized" clitorises. While he claims that the procedures are "nerve sparing", they are absolutely unnecessary and cause serious emotional and physical distress. During the operations, which promise to cure future masturbation or gender "abnormalities" (see: homosexuality) , the glans is excised and tossed away and the tip of the clitoris is sewn back on. If you think of a clitoris as a little penis (which is basically what it is) it is akin to someone hacking off your penis ( men) and sewing only the head back on. (Feel free to cross your legs right now.)
But if this isn't appalling enough for you, then comes the "aftercare" research. Beginning around age six, the doctor begins checking to see if the nerves have been damaged. How does he do this? (This would be the time to grab your barf bag) The doctor begins stimulating the little girl's lady bits with a cotton tip and vibrator . The little girl is touched not only on the mutilated member, but her thighs and every possible part of her netheregions. She will be asked to rate the level of sensation in all areas to determine if Dr. Poppas has destroyed anything, which he clearly has. The perverted examinations are conducted on a yearly basis afterward. I get that it may have some "research" value, but this can only be incredibly psychologically damaging. It's not like you can put the damaged tissue back since the doctor threw it in a waste bin years prior. The child is involuntarily damaged and then humiliated for a lifetime because some doctor thinks that some clitorises are too large.:( He is a child molester in disguise as a doctor/perve!
Children come in all shapes and sizes and so do their little bits. I've heard many a dad proud of his little boy's outward development because infants' genitals seem disproportionate compared to those of adults. There are NO parents lining up to have their boys' stalks shortened. They are KIDS and little girls don't go around checking other girls crotches to see if they are "normal". Children should never be used as experimental playthings, not to mention have their most sensitive areas lopped off and then molested because some deviant wants a grant.

Parents often trust doctors as being a higher authority on health matters, but it is clear to me that the only way of assuring normal psychological and sexual development would be to leave your little girls alone. Not only are these procedures damaging in the short-term, they essentially assure that your future Mrs. Someone is not going to have a great time making your grandbabies. It is the ultimate responsibility of parents to reject requests by doctors to cosmetically alter their infants, and while it might be difficult to turn down a man with 3 PhDs, it is your job.
Whether overseas or on our shores, destruction of the bodies and emotional wellbeing of little girls occurs because we are too obsessed with gender norms and cannot leave well enough alone. Masturbation is not a physical or mental disease and just because girls might enjoy it is no reason to ruin their entire sexual lives. The psychological effects of mutilation and subsequent molestation are so well known that these draconian procedures must be halted immediately and everywhere they occur. There is nothing ethical about involuntary genitotorture. Whether conducted by a shard of glass in Egypt or with a scalpel in America, you KNOW this is wrong.

Protect your now and future daughters.

Thank you to Dan Savage, Alice Dreger, and Ellen K. Feder. To review Drs. Dreger and Feder's report on the bioethics of FGM .

The question is whether Female Genital Mutilation is still legal in united states:( in any form of disguise?
I say this doctor and the likes of him should never be allowed to have their license back (if revoked) and should serve a jail term!!! please tell me what are your thoughts....

Fighting FGM by all means!Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless InternationalAssisting refugees in the US and representation in advocasyThe Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

Monday, November 1, 2010

In Africa Season of plenty and Christmas holidays brings misery for teenage girls ..FGM seasons

As soon as the long rains begin, many walk hundreds of kilometres to find rescue in bid to escape fgm. some falls into the wrong hands.

Fifteen-year-old, Elizabeth Loengetunya dreads the long rains season.


Although residents of East Pokot revere it as a time of plenty, the Standard Six pupil at Choru Primary School would rather the three-month period was scrapped from the calendar, or that the rains would incessantly fail.


It is a sentiment she shares with most of her age-mates, who during the long rains that normally fall in April, May and June are forced to undergo the age-old practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) to prepare them for marriage.


The season of plenty is also the time when schoolgirls as young as 10 get married off, some to men as old as their grand fathers.


“I would rather die than be mutilated. Once mutilated, a girl is forced to leave school and get married,” Elizabeth says bitterly.


Threatened


Two years ago, her mother fled from her matrimonial home when her husband threatened to kill her for resisting his plans to force Elizabeth, who was then 12, to undergo mutilation and get married to a man he had already identified.


“My father almost killed my mother because she would not let him have his way... He had already negotiated and got part of the bride price,” she says.


They now share a small hut in Chepelo Village, provided by a sympathetic relative. They have no land and sell goat and camel milk to make ends meet.


“My father lives with my eldest brother and one of my sisters. I am afraid he might marry her off instead because she is already eight,” Elizabeth says.


Mini-exodus


In Nginya’ng, 100 kilometres from Chepelo, Reverend Christopher Chochoi of the Anglican Church also views the rainy season with foreboding.


The cleric and his wife, Nelly, run the Cana Rescue Centre, which was started in 2005 to shelter girls fleeing their homes because of FGM.


As the first of the grey rain clouds touch the hilltops in the East, a mini exodus of teenage girls begins, all on a journey towards Cana.


They walk hundreds of kilometres to get there, and even though they are aware that some will be turned away, the mere thought of what awaits them if they stay in their homes is enough to strengthen their resolve to get away.


From Loruk, where the tarmac road ends, it is an agonising one-hour drive through to Nginya’ng. When we get to the centre in Rev Chochoi’s compound, he is not at home but his wife shows us around.


“The long rains season is a time of absolute madness. We usually get hundreds of girls, some from as far as El Chamus, Laikipia and Samburu,” Mrs Chochoi says.


“They all want to be admitted to the centre, even though we have limited space. We are forced to turn most of them away after the FGM period because we cannot afford to shelter them all.”


The centre currently houses 59 girls, 26 of whom are in secondary school. They are clothed, fed and their school fees paid.


Mrs Chochoi shows us a grass thatched hut, previously used as a kitchen, where the first girl was housed.


“Her name was Antonine Chebet and she was in Class Seven. She walked 300 kilometres for two weeks to our home because she believed the reverend would save her. She told us that her father was forcing her to undergo the cut then get married to an old man.”


Antonine opened the floodgates and more girls started pouring into the couple’s home.


“When they heard that the reverend’s home was open to girls fleeing FGM, they came in droves. In 2005, with the help of a missionary society in America, we built the first hostel for the girls and admitted 10 of them as full-time boarders.”


Mrs Chochoi says the Pokot view girls as a source of wealth and marry them off as soon as they start to develop breasts.


“For the girls, this centre is a source of hope. My prayer is that as many of them as possible are opened in future so that our girls can study in peace,” she says.


Currently, the Jomo Kenyatta Foundation is supporting five girls in various schools, including Loreto High School, Limuru, and Moi Girls High School, Eldoret.


Community leaders are also being targeted in the fight to help girls.
he Churo Division education officer, Ms Joyce Kamain, says that her office has started an education programme for community leaders, to enlighten them on the negative effects of FGM.


“Most of our girls go to school only up to Standard Four because of FGM and forced early marriages. To reverse this trend, we need to teach our people that there is a productive life for girls beyond marriage,” she says.

Stem the tide


Organisations such as ActionAid Kenya have also stepped in to stem the tide of the destructive practice.


The non-governmental organisation is in the process of building boarding facilities in primary and secondary schools in the area to double up as shelters for girls escaping FGM.


“We are beginning to see some change. In the last three years, enrolment for girls has shot up by 200 per cent. About 20 per cent of the girls in East Pokot do not undergo the rite nowadays. Our aim now is to reach out to the remaining 80 per cent,” says ActionAid vice-chairman Hala Ikedido.


He adds that only education will save the community from the stranglehold of FGM.


Area MP Asman Kamama, who is also the Higher Education assistant minister, recently gave Sh1.3 million from the Constituency Development Fund kitty to primary and secondary schools in the area to boost education standards.


Mr Kamama says that FGM is “persistent” among the Pokot and eradicating it will be a “herculean task”.


“We are fighting the practice through the help of churches and community organisations,” he says.

And I say we continue with boosting education and building more rescue centers where girls can live permanently not just for few weeks then they go back to the homes they abandoned? the punishment becomes more severe and most girls commit suicide in the process. more boarding schools could work and also taking lawful steps to the parents who subject their daughters or who threaten others who are against FGM.
Mashua voice for the voiceless is planning to build boarding schools which doubles as rescue centers.

Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless InternationalAssisting refugees in the US and representation in advocasyThe Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).